I know this has been a long time coming. All I can say is that stuff has been happening. Initially I was hoping that I would get this out by Christmas and get another chapter done by New Year's but again stuff happened. But now that I am done with this situation I am on stronger ground and I have a plan. Happy New Year to everyone!
Edited 31.05.2021 for grammatical, stylistic and logic errors.
Despite my training and despite the work I had been doing for the past year I had to admit that Miranda's plan to take down Cerberus was far better than the one I had come up. Not that I was surprised by that, I was not stupid by any measure but when she explained her plan to me I had to admit that she was quite superior to me in terms of planning covert operations. The biggest advantage over my plan was that it didn't actually require me to kill Illusive Man, not that I had any qualms about doing so but I doubted a leader of extremist terror network group with ties to dozens of economic and industrial leaders of humanity had skipped the lesson on useful paranoia when it comes to his own protection.
The first part of Miranda's plan was to get me captured by Cerberus. Usually I would object to that and if it was anyone else I would have declined such a plan but it was Miranda and her explanation really did make sense. My capture would allow her to successfully complete her mission without rousing suspicion and would get her in along with me into a Cerberus base. Once we were in, my job was to cause a distraction and ultimately break out while she would use the time to plant a few worms into the network. These worms would map out the whole network connecting the cells and give us a lot more information to go on. Without it, using only the information that could be bought from Shadow Broker or remembered by me from what went on in games, would make an already difficult task impossible.
So I was rather alarmed when upon waking up, by way of a bucketful of cold water applied directly to my face, I found Miranda tied up right next to me still unconscious. There were two more people in the room, the guy who threw water at me putting down the bucket next to an identical but still full and the guy who could have stepped off from a set of some B-rated spy vid where his entire appearance screamed Bad Guy. He was tall, thin and wiry with closely cropped hair, goatee and a thin french mustache. And he had a long jagged scar running along a side of his face.
"Well, well Mr Knight. It seems we have finally got you." he said and I kid you not twirled the end of his mustache.
"We will be asking you questions Mr Knight and I suggest you answer them if you do not wish your stay to turn unpleasant. My name is Gant, a pleasure to work with you." he said bowing slightly
"And by unpleasant do you mean you will try to torture me in hopes I will break before you run out of things to try?" I asked not in the mood to beat around the bush.
"No Mr Knight. We know that it would be quite useless to try to torture you. We run a few tests while you were unconscious and while your unique biology presents an obstacle to my preferred methods of persuasion it also has given us an opportunity." Gant walked over to a table just to the side of me and picked up what looked like a cross between a scalpel and a pair of pliers.
"What opportunity you might ask Mr Knight. You are a man or iron skin so torturing your body would be futile and considering your training in the un-redacted parts of your classified personnel file you would also have techniques to deal with more elaborate mental torture. A shame really, I have just finished sharpening all my favourite tools too. So if we can't work on your body and we can't work on your mind what are we left with?" Gant went on clearly in love with the sound of his own voice
I looked at him not understanding what he was driving at. The guy clearly had a few screws loose but he did have a point. Direct physical torture on me is very hard to do, that much was made clear during my training. It's not impossible but compared to a normal human torturing me is like trying to torture a krogan. I heal too fast and my pain threshold is just too high for the normal methods. And then it hit me. I looked at Miranda again and then back at the torturer.
"Yes, I see you understand Mr Knight. if we can't touch your body or your mind then the only thing left is your soul. So we are not going to torture you Mr Knight. At least not directly. But i wonder how long will you last when she starts screaming. It will be beautiful. I thank you Mr Knight for providing me with such a chance." Gant ended his monologue and gestured towards the other guy. He lifted a bucket and emptied it right onto Miranda.
Now, I understand the situation we were in as I looked at Miranda. And while it was clearly not the time, I couldn't help myself from being a bit distracted with the way her wet clothes clung to her body and the angry look she sent towards the goon. Miranda is gorgeous .Always. Angry Miranda with clothes sticking to her every curve was...divine.
"What is going on here?" Miranda demanded
"Ah, Miss Lawson, I have to admit I did not expect to have the pleasure of your company. But I simply had to take this chance while I could. But you understand, sacrifice for the cause and all that." torturer smiled as he picked up another instrument and gestured towards her.
"You can't be serious Gant. Illusive Man will kill you for this. Your skills are not that rare to get away with this." Miranda said
"Quite possibly but only if he knows about it. But that's not how the story will go. You see we will tell him that you tried to stop Mr Knight from escaping once he was in our custody and he killed you for your trouble. And of course to stop him from escaping we had to kill him. And my men are loyal so no one is going to tell him anything." the man gloated obviously enjoying the whole situation far more than anyone should.
"Why are you doing this?" Miranda looked puzzled as she asked no doubt running through a dozen different scenarios that would make sense
"Why Miss Lawson, you didn't think that your rapid ascent in Cerberus ranks had gone unnoticed? There are quite a few others who are not so charmed or intimidated by you to simply step aside and let Illusive Man's favourite pet give orders. Personally I do not care but favours done to a right person are a rare and precious commodity. Gaining them is hard and I prefer not to squander such brilliant opportunities. And it's not everyday I get to work with such quality material. It is going to be quite a challenge really, we can't leave any obvious marks on you so the methods I will have to use will test my skill." Gant said and with a look of clear regret put the torture implement back on the table.
"You are insane." Miranda said in disbelief
"And that is precisely why Cerberus hired me Miss Lawson so all I am doing right now is fulfilling my purpose." Gant smiled widely and made a show of looking for something on the table.
"And this is exactly what we need." he said and picked up a remote."batarians are such a vile species, they really have no place in our galaxy but once in a while I am amazed at their ingenuity. To keep asari slaves from tearing them apart batarians came up with this neat little thing. It is attached directly to a biotic amp and when switched on creates a constant suppression field stopping anyone from using biotics. There are of course cruder methods of doing that but this little contraption also allows for a different set of functionality." Gant went on explaining and gesturing towards the back of Miranda's head where I had noticed a small black half-ring just below her ears going across her neck.
"Like what?" I asked guessing the answer but dreading from saying it.
"Like this." Gant pressed the button. I could see Miranda blink once, twice and then a sound I never could imagine would pass through her lips filled the room. A sharp keening sound with no thought attached to it, just a vocalization of incredible levels of pain. Her eyes went wide and her whole body rigid. Then Gant released the button and Miranda stopped screaming and shuddered.
"Batarians never really bothered to explore the possibility of control, they simply have an on and off switch for pain just like I have shown you right now. Incredibly useful if all you want is to get someone's attention. Not that useful if you are trying to create art. So I personally modified this to include level control. I must admit to be quite excited, this is the first time I am actually using this as I had no subjects with the required potential to practice on. So forgive me if I am not quite as skillful with it as I should be. I am really quite sorry as it would not be my best performance despite having such great audience." as Gant continued speaking I saw that there wouldn't be any chance of continuing with Miranda's plan. Gant will simply torture Miranda, it won't even matter if I tell him everything he wants to know. He will torture Miranda and when he is satisfied he will kill us.
"I heard enough." I said and summoned as much strength in all my limbs as I could. Metal cuffs that were attaching me to the chair protested and squeaked but it was the chair that gave way first, the arms breaking off at the point of attachment to the back of the chair. I stood up and swiped at Gant hitting him with the chair arm on the side. It wasn't a proper swing so I didn't actually kill him but I bet a few of his ribs have found themselves in several pieces by the way he clutched at his side with a look of surprise changing to agony on his face.
Turning towards the goon I rushed him but I wasn't fast enough, the remains of the chair were still arresting my movement so he had time to reach for his gun and shoot. He must have been a good shot as even with so little time he put the shot nearly centre mass, the bullet hitting me an inch or so to the right of my heart. It staggered me just enough that I didn't manage to crash into the goon using my greater mass to take him out of the fight permanently but I still hit him hard enough to bring him to the ground and me along with him. He hit me in the face with the gun in his hand but that pain was nothing compared to a small blossom of fire expanding in my chest. Without further ado I rammed my forehead twice into his face and I must have hit his nose both times as I heard the crunch of the bone fracturing and the slivers were driven deep into the brain.
I rolled away clumsily but couldn't quite pick myself up. The gun must have been set for maximum soft tissue damage on unarmoured targets as my chest felt like someone was driving a dozen red hot needles into it. I wasn't bleeding but I couldn't move. I needed a bit of time to heal up.
"Sam hang in there. I have medical training." I heard Miranda yell and craned my neck to look. She was already working her way out of the restraints.
"Just give me a minute. Or five" I replied and let my head down again. I will heal enough to move in a few minutes but I would need someone qualified to take out the leftovers of the bullet. When I got shot before their weapons were dialled to deal with barriers and armour which means they didn't really fragment and I could deal with it usually by sticking a probe with a magnet into the wound to get it out or just waiting for my body to push out the offending pieces of metal.
Mirandas worried face appeared in my view as she ran a scan with an omni-tool and was about to apply emergency medical program when she frowned.
"You are not bleeding. And the penetration is shallow" she scanned me again perplexed
"Yeah, I will get to that later, for now we need to get out of here. We didn't count on Mr Crazy over there." I nodded towards Gant as he was still where he dropped his breath shallow and rapid. Going into shock I guess.
"How many Cerberus goons between us and exit?" I asked to bring Miranda back on the task
"I doubt there are more than five counting the one there. Gant never works with a big team, there are not that many people who have a stomach strong enough to work with him." Miranda answered and picking the pistol up walked over to Gant, scanned him and then shot him.
"That was a mercy." I said, I was getting used to the pain now and sat up slowly.
"It wasn't. He managed to administer medigel so he was going to live. We couldn't afford anyone to actually know what went in here." she replied as she went over to the goon I killed and did something to his omni-tool.
"We really need a second gun. It would be better if one of us had a shield generator but let's work with what we have. I will be in front, you take them out from behind me. I can take a few more hits." I slowly picked myself up and for the first time since I had been transported to this universe I felt wheezy. I used to get the same feeling as a kid after running too much.
"Sam I don't know how you are still standing, never mind moving. I can't use you as a shield. If you get hit bad enough to stop moving I wouldn't be able to move with you at all. I am strong but not that strong. I wouldn't be able to fight and drag you at the same time.I have a better idea. Here help me with this." Miranda turned her back towards me and lifted her hair. Of course, biotics. I keep forgetting about that. Walking up to her I unlocked the collar and carefully removed the ends that were inserted into the amp.
"You sure you are ok to use biotics?" I asked
"No, but we do not have much of a choice here. I can create a barrier and it should hold enough for us to deal with the others. Then I can do something about the whole thing. Here take this, I will need to concentrate" Miranda handed me the gun
"I am still walking in front of you." I raised the gun to a firing position and then nodded to Miranda. For this to work we basically had to be really close. She pressed herself against my back with one hand around my waist and the other intertwining her fingers with my right hand. Breathing deep she extended a barrier around both of us encasing us in mass effect field. Walking out into the corridor like a particularly clingy pair of lovers we were met with an organised response. Two Cerberus goons firing handguns at us from the far end of the corridor and two kneeling just in front of them with SMG's. Neither we nor they needed to aim carefully to hit each other but luckily even though they were in full armour none of them had kinetic barriers. So we walked forward with me one arm extended pulling the trigger methodically to stop it from overheating and them just blasting at us. The bright flashes of their rounds lancing at us as a stream of metallic death being stopped by Miranda's barrier, my single gun returning fire without obvious effect, Miranda clinging to my back both of our clothes wet, breathing hard into my ear from the strain making me forget about the pain from being shot. It was distracting me by bringing a few images that were less than appropriate at the current moment although I couldn't deny that our brief make-out session just before being captured was partly responsible for these thoughts but right now I had to focus on the task at hand. Moment's like these get stuck in your head as if they last hours, as if you experience it from every angle, fear, adrenaline and a mix of other chemicals your body produces to deal with extreme stress imprinting the memory in your brain.
An eternity later one of the kneeling goons falls clutching his neck, distracting the guy behind him halving the firepower getting thrown at us and then moment is gone and it goes from slow motion into fast forward. We have already walked half way across the corridor, they are no more than a leap ahead. Miranda's is breathing as if she has just run a marathon and I know that the next few seconds are decide our deaths or victory.
"Now" I yell and Miranda releases the barrier letting go of me and throwing her arms forward she redirects the energy into a push, it's not a strong one as pushes go but it staggers the goons still firing at us. I keep firing even as I leap forward and somehow manage to hit the distracted guy with the handgun as I barrel towards them, not fatal as far as I could tell in my mad dash but serious enough to leave him out of the fight for now. The gun overheats and I throw it. That is just enough distraction for me to get close and I deliver a sloppy cross to his right cheek and the guy's head whiplashes backward his eyes rolling back. The last guy rolls back and starts to aim his gun again when Miranda comes flying and hits him with what I could only describe as a ninja kick. The kind that you see in movies where it's all wires and special effects. I loved it.
I look around and see that there is no one to fight any more.
"You ok?" I ask Miranda
"No injuries although I am going to have a killer headache later. Quick lets do what we came here for before more Cerberus arrives to secure this place. They have activated the silent alarm. "she answers and walks through the door that the guys were guarding.
Behind the door is a typical control room, several screens and what looks like a mobile server tower on one side, a rack of armour and weapons now mostly empty on the other and a coffee machine on a table in the middle. On the table are also our omni-tools. She grabs hers and hands me my own and then sits down in front of one of the terminals.
"What are you doing?" I ask as I see her hands flying over the keyboard and multiple windows appear on the screen.
"I have to modify the record of what happened here, I have to make it look like they grabbed you and brought you here for initial interrogation without me. If I was never here they can't suspect me. And I am planting the worm." Miranda explained
"That makes sense." I admit and spend the next few minutes marveling at her skills.
"It's done. Let's get out of here." she says and we step out of the room.
"Die traitor" I hear the quiet words and my eyes lock on the guy I thought was disabled. Instead of a gun he clutches a grenade and I see it's set to release detonation rather than time. There is no time to think so I simply grab Miranda and push her back into the control room putting myself in the door frame. The explosion pushes me into the room after her.
Frag grenade luckily I think as my face hits the floor, if it had been high explosive then the blast wave would have killed Miranda.
"you ok?" I mumble as I see Miranda's face appear in front of me again. I can feel the application of medigel as a cool wave against my back but even as hard to damage as I am a frag grenade in close quarters is serious.
"You are not going to say to give you a few minutes again are you?" Miranda says mockingly but I hear the concern in her voice. "We have to bring you to a hospital."
"No hospital. Shepard." I feel my conscious slipping, it seems even for me this much damage this close together was too much
"What? You can't be serious, Sam." Miranda sounds exasperated
"Shepard can help." I mumble and the darkness overcomes me.